Temba Bavuma creates unprecedented batting record in Gqeberha

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma created history in the ongoing second Test between the hosts and Sri Lanka in Gqeberha. His 66 in the second innings made him the first captain to score four 50-plus scores in a two-match Test series. 

In this series, Bavuma has scores of 70, 113, 78 and now 66. Before him, the record for most 50-plus scores in a two-match series belonged to Tatenda Taibu (vs Bangladesh in 2005), Ricky Ponting (vs India in 2010) and Misbah ul Haq (vs South Africa in 2010 and vs New Zealand in 2011), all of whom had three fifties as captain.

Before Bavuma, seven other batters had scored four fifties in a two-match series, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Kumar Sangakkara, and Andy Flower, to name a few, but none of them were captains. Bavuma had never scored three successive 50-plus scores before in Test cricket. But in this series, he has been the highest run-scorer with 327 runs. No other South African batter has managed more than 200 runs in the series. 

Bavuma’s exploits saved South Africa in the first Test. His 70 constituted nearly 37% of the hosts’ first innings total of 191. In the second innings, his 113 helped the side post a target of 516 for Sri Lanka. 

In the second Test, Bavuma was in a much more aggressive mood, scoring 78 at a strike rate of 71.2 and then 66 at 56.9, including two sixes. 

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